[eBook] Perfect HubSpot Hacking CTA Referral Sources

Chief HubSpot Consultant at MFrankJohnson.com and author of the Perfect HubSpot Series, Frank contributes daily at Community.HubSpot.com where he's been voted #1 HubSpot Solutions Author in the USA. As a lifelong learner and college educator, Frank builds powerful HubSpot Marketing automation solutions for HubSpot Enterprise and HubSpot Pro users, and publishes a wide range of inbound content for the freelance HubSpot consultant community.

Who This eBook Is For

Determining where HubSpot CTA Views and Clicks are coming from is easy when each CTA is tied to a single webpage and that webpage is only used for a single source -- for example, Paid Search. But, what about those of us who need to see HubSpot CTA performance across all relevant traffic sources directly inside of HubSpot? And, what about HubSpot CTA Views and Clicks typically associated with premium CTAs like "Schedule A Demo", "Book A Meeting", or "Request A Consultation" that may appear on multiple pages of our websites?

HubSpot CTA Referral Sources show us the highest Click Rate for a given referral source despite page placement and allow us to directly compare performance between relevant sources -- i.e., Organic Search, Paid Search, Social Media, Referrals, or Other Campaigns defined by HubSpot.

Tracking HubSpot CTA Referral Sources can be particularly valuable when measuring against Paid Search referral sources since Pay-Per-Click traffic can be some of the most expensive traffic we obtain.

By default, HubSpot CTA views and clicks are tracked and reported on a per page / per email basis, but without regard to CTA Referral Source. HubSpot CTA views only match page views under ideal conditions, and there is currently no built-in HubSpot source report showing HubSpot CTA Referral Sources.

This is what a typical CTA overview page looks like in HubSpot.

Default HubSpot CTA Overview

Figure 1. Default HubSpot CTA Overview Page

This is what the smart version of that CTA looks like in HubSpot. Note, we only colorized the buttons for illustrative purposes to emphasize each referral source. Design details such as button color / text can also be further refined to achieve higher CTR based on each referral source and your use case.

HubSpot Smart CTA (Showing Referral Sources)

Figure 2. HubSpot Smart CTA Showing Referral Sources

Clearly, the stark contrast between these two images screams volumes. Imagine being armed with this sort of HubSpot CTA Referral Sources baseline intelligence for your most important CTAs right inside of HubSpot.

This opens a world of possibilities. Now that we can see the CTA Referral Sources data we can further refine processes to improve CTR based on where visitors come from in addition to visitor behavior. By adding HubSpot CTA Referral Sources intelligence to our marketing arsenal we now have the power to surgically target a HubSpot smart CTA version specifically because of its referral source.

Need to focus on improving clicks from the 'Social Media' HubSpot CTA Referral Source? -- Maybe change the button to be more attractive to your primary social media audience. (We all have them -- ours is LinkedIn!)

These are just a few examples of glaring opportunities for improvement we can all take advantage of once we have the right data driving us forward.

One of these CTAs is not like the other.

- Client Use Case -

Our (sanitized) client use case for an online services professional required that we make a HubSpot 'Book A Meeting' CTA 'smart' based on HubSpot Referral Source. (see image - Smart CTA settings)

Initially we saw a correlation between CTA and MQL referral source data as shown below. But this was because automated triggering of the MQL Lifecycle stage was temporarily limited so that it only occurred as a result of meeting bookings.

Also, although this wasn't a new HubSpot portal, the MQL Lifecycle stage was previously underutilized. Once other behaviors were allowed to trigger MQL Lifecycle stage through automation things became ... well ... HubSpot normalized.

That being said, the new smart HubSpot CTA Referral Sources data became a reliable measurement tool on its own even after normalization. HubSpot CTA Referral Sources data also became very helpful in identifying disconnects between expectations of website visitors from the respective referral sources and the CTAs themselves. The client now has hard data right inside of HubSpot with which to further refine design elements that directly impact conversions. (see image - Smart CTAs & MQLs)

Learning which version of a CTA best performs for specific referral sources is valuable data to savvy digital marketers. And while there are 3rd-party HubSPot integrations that provide this intelligence, there is currently no built-in mechanism to directly view / report CTA Referrral Sources for unintelligent CTAs in HubSpot. (see Perfect HubSpot Features -n- Integrations You Need To Know In 2019)

HubSpot smart CTA Referral Sources take the guesswork out of determining if/when specific design elements need to be updated and why. By using a HubSpot smart CTA in a slightly unconventional way we are able to clearly see Views, Clicks, and Click Rates by CTA Referral Sources at a glance.

This insight allows us to plainly see the highest Click Rate for a given CTA (no matter the page or pages) and which CTA Referral Sources are generating the most Clicks -- i.e., Organic Search, Paid Search, Social Media, Referrals, or Other Campaigns as defined by HubSpot.